


Hero Swap AU

by LiamLordofTrash



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Bickering, Crack, F/M, Fluff, M/M, Mild Language, Silly, Stan Lee Cameo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-04
Updated: 2018-09-03
Packaged: 2019-06-05 10:26:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 17,391
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15168686
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LiamLordofTrash/pseuds/LiamLordofTrash
Summary: It's a boring day for the Avengers until Tony Stark attacksHey going to be gone for a while- this story isnt dead, just on hiatis for a little whileThe Heros and the Villians are swapped and the backstories are a bit different, if people like it I might make another chapter or twoIf you have any Ironstrange requests I'd love to take them!





	1. Chapter 1

Red Skull, Ultron, Loki, Vulture, Hela, Yellowjacket, Erik Killmonger, and Kaecilius sat around in Avengers tower. Then they heard a loud crash. 

“Who’s turn is it?” Vulture asked.

“I checked  last time,” Kaecilius said. 

“Fine,” Ultron said, getting up.  He walked to the window with as much stomping as he could make his robotic joints make. He looked out and sighed. 

“Is it your dad?” asked Killmonger.

“Shut your fleshy mouth he’s not my dad,” Ultron said. “But yeah, it’s Tony.”

“We could call Magneto,” Hela said. “He could just throw him.”

“I don’t  _ like  _ Magneto,” said Ultron.

“Duh you don’t. You’re an easy bake oven, he manipulates metal,” Killmonger said. 

“Look kitty cat- call me an easy bake oven one more time-”

“Someone needs to deal with him,” Hela said.

“Why don’t you?” asked Yellowjacket.

“Loki and I deal with Thor and other such Asgardian or.. Space.. Issues. Your little Iron Man is not our problem.”

“Come on guys-” said Ultron.

“I deal with magic threats,” said Kaecilius, trying to sink further into the couch.

“I deal with Antman,” said Yellowjacket.

“You can only do one thing?” asked Loki.

“Fight me,” Yellowjacket said. 

“He’s throwing something at the building.” 

“Ultron he’s your problem go deal with him.” Ultron sighed again and walked outside and went down to the elevator. 

“I gotta watch this,” said Loki. They all moved to the window to watch. Kaecilius cast a  spell so they could listen in on it. 

“Tony, please leave,” said Ultron as Stark maniacally laughed. 

“Prepare for your destruction-”

“Look what are you going to do-”  Stark’s suit was only about half functional, as most things he created were. Something was off- in his brain. Most people agreed that when he had nearly died in the desert that his brain had been scattered- that something was wrong with him. The arc reactor in the side of his head was essentially proof that was right. The only thing he had ever made that functioned fully was probably Ultron, but he had been intended to destroy the human race for.. Some reason? Stark had lapses in reasoning, and the whys of the things he did were usually as lost on him as they were everyone else. He was a genius, and he probably had good intentions, just his wires were a little crossed. Tony paused at that question for a while, blinking a little slower. He probably didn’t know. 

“It’s alright, you’re doing great, baby, just focus,” called Stephen Strange from a few feet away.

“Magic threat!” Yellowjacket exclaimed gleefully. 

“Damnit,” Kaecilius said. 

“He’s not.. Doing anything.” 

“He’s the master of the dark arts-” said  Hela. “He’s dangerous even if he’s doing nothing.” 

“He’s just here to support his boyfriend I bet,” said Kaecilius. Tony gave Stephen a thumbs up and then he seemed to remember what he was doing. He had a new weapon, and he pointed it at Ultron. There was a second when no one was concerned, and then it fired, sending a massive magnetic pulse through him, deactivating Ultron. They all just stared for a moment. 

“You did it!” Strange said, getting up and walking towards Tony. He hugged Tony, who just looked stunned.

“I did it!” 

“Yeah,” said Stephen. “You did so good,” he said, kissing Tony on the cheek. 

“So who’s gonna do something now?”

“I mean.. We can just pick up Ultron later,” Loki said. 

“Now it’s time to blow up the tower!” exclaimed Tony, excited that his plan had  worked.

“Maybe we should do something,” Hela said.

“I’ll deal with Strange,” Kaecilius said, “Someone get Tony but don’t break him because Strange will flip his shit.” 

“I’ll get Tony,” said Killmonger.

“Uh, you kill things. It’s in your name. I’ve got it,” Vulture said. “I’ll just pick him up and take him home.”  Kaecilius sent himself and Vulture down to the ground. Vulture flew at Tony and Strange attacked him immediately, ignoring Kaecilius as he attacked Strange. Strange was strong, he had given up everything for the pursuit of dark magic to fix his hands, which sort of worked. He had devoted his soul to Dormammu, who had given him new hands, which were still painful. At least he could move them. It was Kaecilius’ job as Sorcerer Supreme to deal with him. However, he still knew better than to attack Tony. Stephen had become instantly and deeply attached to Tony. He would protect the little crazy man with his life. Which since it was backed by Dormammu, would be near impossible to get through. Vulture started to fly around, trying to get Tony to surrender the detonator. Kaecilius flew down and attacked Strange, trying to get him to leave Vulture to attack him. Strange ignored him and ran to Tony, wrapping his arms around him. Tony pressed the detonator and part of the tower exploded and it began to collapse.

“I did it!” exclaimed Tony. Kaecilius and Vulture turned to help the others. 

  
  


“I did it,” Tony said again.   
“Yes you did,” said Stephen, holding Tony in his lap.

“Can you get him to stop saying that? It’s fucking annoying,” hissed Captain Hydra. 

“How about you get the fuck out of this house?” Stephen snapped back. 

“Leave them alone,” sighed the Winter Soldier. “You know Tony’s stupid.”

“He’s not  _ stupid, _ ” snarled Stephen, clinging tight to Tony. “Don’t ever call him stupid!”

“What would you call him? He’s stupid. He wasn’t always, but he is now.”

“Keep saying that and Strange is gonna kill you,” Black Widow said, rolling her eyes. “He’s not stupid his brain is just kind of...Broken?” 

“He’s not broken and he’s not stupid!” Strange snarled and flames burst around him, the energy of Dormammu was very unstable. He held Tony closer to his chest. Tony kissed his chin and Stephen calmed down, hugging Tony and kissing him.

“You’re kind of crushing me here, honey,” Tony said. 

“Looks like he’s working again,” the Winter Soldier muttered. Sometimes he could think more clearly because sometimes things worked better for him. Stephen didn’t care. He loved him anyways. Always. 

“Hello!” said an old man. 

“It’s Stan Lee the arms salesman,” said Black Widow. “Who called him?”

“Me,” called War Machine. Stan Lee smiled and walked down the hall to him. Stephen got up, lifting Tony up with him, and made them a nest by connecting the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak to the ceiling. 

“What are you doing?” asked Tony. 

“Getting away from them,” Stephen said. “And holding you close.” 

“Why are you so snuggly?” 

“I don’t know, why are you so cute?”

“I’m not cute,” Tony said. “I’m evil.” 

“You’re both.” Tony sighed and laid back. Stephen touched the arc reactor in his head, the pitch black hands he had gotten from Dormammu blocking out all the light from the reactor. Stephen didn’t like that. He didn’t like blocking the light from Tony. He moved his hand slightly. 

“No, put it back,” said Tony. “It’s too bright I don’t like it.” Stephen put his hand back. At least he could help Tony. Tony kissed him and he pulled Tony closer. 

“Hey guys does your facial hair get stuck together like Velcro?”

“Shut the hell up, Hawkeye.” 

 


	2. Chapter 2

Thor was there. That was always a problem, even for them. He was against his two Avengers siblings, but nonetheless hated humans with the burning passion of a thousand suns. Their foolishness had at some point killed his beloved mother, Frigga. Hela had never been that close to her parents anyways, and Loki had begged him to leave the midgardians- as they called humans- alone. He understood what it was like to be part of a species that was blamed and hated on Asgard, though he was also deeply hurt by her death. Their father had backed into Odinsleep once more, leaving his children to fight it out themselves. 

“Who’s on Thor duty?” asked Stephen loudly.

“Thor duty? He’s here?” asked Bruce, then sneezing. The gamma radiation kept him sick nearly always, and he had deep stretch marks in his skin from his transformations. He didn’t like to be Hulk, and didn’t exactly want to be one of them either. 

“I’ve got it,” sighed Captain Hydra. He walked to the door and opened it. “What do you-” he was shoved past. 

“Which one of you destroyed the Avengers tower?” he asked, swinging a sword. He had once had a hammer, but it had deemed him unworthy. It was rumored that Hela had it. 

“Tony,” ratted Hawkeye immediately. 

“By the Gods you had better have a good explanation for what you did Midgardian or I’ll splatter you across these halls!” he snarled. 

“You fight them yourself!” Stephen hissed. “What, are you jealous he did better than you?”

“He could have killed my siblings!” 

“I mean, I don’t want to get involved, but a little explosion shouldn’t be able to kill literal Gods,” Black Widow interjected. 

“I will not risk it,” Thor said. 

“Look, Thor, it’s Tony. He doesn’t have a reason for anything,” said Black Widow. 

“Then he’ll die,” Thor said, placing the sword at his neck. 

“You touch him and I’ll kill you and all of Asgard!” Stephen yelled, putting himself between them. 

“Why do you align yourself with them? You’re not a human.” Thor asked. “Once you were. But you’ve made yourself.. Something else.” 

“I’m still a human.”

“You’re the glorified concubine of an ancient dark God- you’ve made yourself a demon.” 

“You’re being dramatic.” Thor poked him in the chest with the tip of the sword.

“Look, I don’t mind you demon types. Move out of my way and let me settle it with the Midgardians- this is not your fight.”

“If you pointed that sword at anyone but Tony I’d agree.” 

“Well he’s the one who did it,” said Thor. 

“Unless you want Dormammu to be freed in Asgard first then I highly suggest calming the hell down and letting Tony be.” 

“Come on guys, please get along?” Bruce said softly. 

“Why do you care?” asked the Winter Soldier.

“Tense situations bring out the Hulk,” he said softly. Thor put the sword under Stephen’s chin and sliced his chin open.

“Just this once, demon,” said Thor. “Keep an eye on your toy there.” He pointed the sword at Tony. He left. 

“Thank God that’s over,” Hawkeye said. “Get it?” 

“I hate you.” 

 

Tony had pulled Stephen around for a while, trying to find something.

“I have a thing.. It’s going to fix…” he paused for a long while, then turned back to Stephen and noticed the blood again. “I’m going to fix this,” he said, touching it. Stephen hadn’t exactly noticed when it was his blood had turned black, but he really needed to ask Dormammu about that. Once, things like the mark that was burned in his forehead or the skin that started to flake off around his eyes had actually scared him. Now it was just kind of inconvenient. Dormammu was really busy, so it was difficult to talk to him about stuff like that and he was usually irritated when Stephen mentioned things like it. However, turning into a demon was a pretty reasonable thing to ask about, he figured. 

Tony got one of his inventions and Stephen guessed it would hurt and then not work. However, the machine instead produced a band aid from a lemon peel. 

“It works!” exclaimed Tony.

“Oh, wow. It really does.” The band aid smelled like lemons but in the very least it didn’t burn. “It’s great.”

“I can’t remember why I made this,” said Tony. 

“You like helping us,” he said to Tony. “You’re a good person,” he said. “A little confused but good.”

“Everyone says we’re all bad people,” Tony said. 

“It’s because of the others,” said Stephen.

“Why?”

“I mean look at them. Thor wants to kill all humans, Hulk purposely tries to kill as many people as possible whenever he shows up, Rogers was an American hero turned into Hydra’s poster boy and his little best friend is their rabid dog. Black Widow kills people for money, Hawkeye lost his family and decided to join her-”

“What about you?” Tony asked. There was a pause.

“I gave my soul to a dark entity to get my hands back,” he said. “Then I didn’t even become a doctor again once I got them.”

“Why?” asked Tony.

“I don’t have time anymore. I have to serve Dormammu.” 

“That sucks.”

“Well I have my hands back,” he said, flexing the clawed hands and poking Tony. Tony rubbed Stephen’s hands.

“I think it’s going up your arms,” he said softly, rubbing the edge of the pick black hands. The skin felt different- nearly scaly. It was probably not good. 

“I think you’re right.” He was definitely right, but Stephen didn’t want to worry him. Tony held his hands anyways. He pressed close to Tony and kissed his arc reactor and then his lips. They held each other close. He would have to ask about the possibility he was becoming a demon and that Thor was right- but then he was exactly where he needed to be. 

 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Though more Stucky centric there are some sweet lil ironstrange moments and something that may lead to future conflict with our villians 
> 
> Very angst, much oof

They had a simple job, another quiet kill for Hydra. The Winter Soldier stuck close to his handler, walking through the quiet streets. Captain Hydra moved slowly and precisely. He was at everything, he was their poster boy, their symbol. Proof that Hydra couldn’t be stopped, and that they could take anyone who tried to stop them and make them their own. The Winter Soldier didn’t remember what he had been called, but he didn’t even know his own name. 

He was strangely jealous of everyone who did know their names. He was jealous of Clint and Natasha. They were weapons like he was but they knew who they were. They knew they were Clint and Natasha. Sam knew he was Sam. Thor knew he was Thor. They all knew themselves the way he never could. But there was no one in the world he was more jealous of than Tony and Stephen. 

“Hey!” snapped Captain Hydra. The Winter Soldier turned his head. “You’ve got a mission stop daydreaming.” The Winter Soldier headed up to the top of the hill through the deep forest. It was almost peaceful. He knew a forest like that. He had gone with Cap through something like that. He had been close to Cap. Captain something- something that wasn’t Hydra- he  _ knew  _ it. Captain Hydra smacked the back of his head. He was given the gun. He settled down on the hill and prepared to wait. 

He was a sniper, that day. He was whatever they wanted him to be. He didn’t want to be that. He forced that idea back down. What he wanted didn’t matter. It was a terrible idea for him to want something. He should focus on what they wanted. He didn’t matter. He never mattered. 

 

He watched them for some reason. He liked to watch Stephen and Tony and just be jealous. He watched as Tony tried to make something, the Winter Soldier didn’t know what. And then it went awfully wrong and exploded, cutting into Tony’s face. He screamed and tried to cover his face as it continued to break down and burn. Suddenly, Stephen appeared, running to Tony’s side. He gently touched Tony’s face and started to heal him.

“Stephen you were busy-” Tony said. “I would have I.. I would have been fine.” 

“That’s not important Tony,” said Stephen. “You needed me. You’re the most important thing in the world to me. Nothing else matters.” 

  
  


Bucky wished he mattered. He had it. He had his name he knew it! Buc… Bu.. B? He was forgetting it. No! Not again! Not again! Not again! He struggled, holding onto only a letter. B. His name started with B. He heard gunfire and the momentary distraction forced it away. It was gone. He sighed and looked through his scope. He took the shot and killed the man. 

 

They were headed back. He had an urge, one of many little urges he had been having, to talk to Captain Hydra. That was a bad idea. That was a very bad idea. But something deep down in his brain said  _ friend.  _ Maybe more. He wished he was more. He wished he was really still his friend. Those little urges, little things he wanted to do like stick fridge magnets to Sam’s wings or hold Steve’s hand- who was Steve? He knew Steve. He knew a Steve. He had to know Steve. He held tight to that name, focusing on it as hard as he could. He had to keep it there. Save it. It was important. He  _ knew  _ it was. Somewhere deep down he knew. 

 

The Winter Soldier watched them too much probably. Stephen was panicking, but Stephen did that a whole lot. He worried about Tony mostly. He was worrying about Tony then. Tony was having memory gaps. He was forgetting things. The Winter Soldier understood that. Intimately. Stephen was really worried about Tony, getting close to trying to talk to Dormammu about it. Tony walked to him.

“Stephen, I know it’s worrying-”

“I have to fix this- I have to do this for you-”

“Stephen what are you so worried about? I’m just forgetting little things- leaving the keys in the freezer.”

“Tony you’ll forget everything if it’s bad enough- You’ll forget me- you’ll forget who you are!” 

“I won’t forget you, Stephen,” said Tony. “No matter how bad it gets, I always remember you.. I know you,” said Tony. “I always will.” He held Stephen’s hands, resting his head on Stephen’s shoulder. Stephen held him close. 

Later that day Stephen was still trying to help it, despite what Tony had said. 

 

He was holding Steve’s hand. He wasn’t sure when he’d done it but he  _ had.  _ Steve was Captain Hydra. He knew that now and he had to cling to it. He had loose memories about Steve though it was mostly feelings instead of memories. He knew how he felt about Steve. He loved Steve. They were like Tony and Stephen- or at least they were supposed to be. Steve looked him in the eyes but didn’t move his hand. 

 

When they got back to the house they looked around for a quiet place to be. They all found a back room where they sat down together and held each other's hands again. 

“Bucky,” Steve said softly. “Do you even remember your name?”

“No but I know you’re Steve,” he said. 

“I can’t remember myself either… We can remember each other though.”

“Then I’ll remember you and you remember me,” said Bucky, holding his hands. It was dangerous for both of them, but he was happy anyways. He didn’t need to constantly spy on Stephen and Tony anymore. He had that now.

 

Clint saw them. He knew something was off by the way they were acting, but they had made an absolutely terrible mistake. He was deaf, sure, but he could read lips fairly well, and there was a huge difference between the names Steve and Bucky and Captain Hydra and the Winter Soldier. Even more damning was the fact that they were holding hands. Clint paused. He had a family once. He had been in love once. He would do something that irrational and stupid love. He really would have. He wished he still had that. But he didn’t. He only had himself and he couldn’t get vengeance for his wife and children if he was dead. So he would have to throw Steve and Bucky under the bus. 

 


	4. Chapter 4

The extreme array of colors of the Dark Dimension were so bright they were almost incomprehensible. Stephen kneeled before the massive torso of Dormammu. Dormammu was so profoundly huge that Stephen physically couldn’t see the rest of him. Dormammu looked almost annoyed with him. 

“While I would never question your judgement, great Dormammu,” Stephen began. “I would like to ask a question.”

“Ask your question,” Dormammu said, his voice almost deafening. 

“What is the purpose of these...uh..” Stephen looked at the mass of inky skin that had moved up his arms and rubbed his tongue over the newly budding fangs in his mouth. “Improvements to my uh… to my body? If I may know.” 

“These adjustments to your physical form are so that you may survive the full force of my power,” Dormammu explained. Stephen was just more confused. The full force of Dormammu’s power? “Do you know, Stephen, why it is that I appeared to you? Why I helped  you?” 

“I do not,” said Stephen. 

“One of my followers got a glimpse through the eye of Agamotto and found that you would be the one to defeat me,” said Dormammu.

“But I have no in-intentions of ever betraying you- I wouldn’t-” Stephen began.

“I know,” Dormammu cut him off. “Because with this knowledge I knew I had to remove you as a threat. I had the option of killing you. Easily. But if somehow that was a failure it would only send you further down the path of defeating me. So instead, I found you when you were desperately in need of help- any help. And I offered it to you. I won your loyalties instead of trying to win a fight the Eye of Agamotto said I would lose. And now I know how strong you can become. If you could defeat me at some point, then you could handle my power at some point. This means you will make a fine vessel some day. These improvements are to assure you survive it when the time comes.” 

“Oh.. Dormammu.. Uh… May I ask… Will humanity survive this?” asked Stephen.

“It is possible,” said Dormammu. “But you do not care about all of humanity.” 

“I.. I do not.”

“You only care for your love.”

“Yes.”

“I can assure his survival,” Dormammu promised. 

“Thank you, I can promise my loyalty and the use of myself as your vessel,” promised Stephen. 

“Good. Any more questions?”

“No,” Stephen said.  He woke up suddenly and he accidentally woke Tony with him. “Oh.. Shh, Tony, sleep,” Stephen said softly. Tony laid back down. 

  
  


Bruce walked around the building lazily. He tried to drink his tea and relax. He had to relax. The other side of him attacked everything- tried to kill everything and everyone. Bruce didn’t want that. He couldn’t control it, and he couldn’t predict it. He just had to try to keep himself calm. He walked to the small table and he sat down near Rhodey and Sam.

“Look- I’m just sayin’- he was always there. He was always there for me no matter what and I don’t give any percentage of a shit that he’s crazy,” said Rhodey. “When I worked for Shield and literally betrayed him he was still there for me to build me these things when I got paralyzed,” Rhodey said slapping the metal legs. 

“Yeah well what happened to that woman he was with?” asked Sam. 

“Look he killed Pepper on accident tryin’ to save her- he always tries to help.”

“He’ll kill you on accident too.”

“Look you bring up the Pepper thing around him and I’ll clock you,” Rhodey said. “It hurts him.”

“Hurts him? Then he shouldn’t have killed her.”

“He didn’t mean to! He’d never mean to! He doesn’t want to hurt anybody!” Rhodey snapped, slamming his hand on the table. The tension was too much for Bruce. He got up and walked off, hoping it wouldn’t have already made him too tense. 

He noticed that the Winter Soldier and Captain Hydra had been gone all day, which meant that somewhere someone was suffering. He had no idea who, but it was bad and it made him more anxious, which made him more prone to anger. He sat down next to Natasha. He kind of liked Natasha and he wished she liked him more. She just really seemed to see him as a mean to an end, a person who had to be used to get to what she wanted. She wanted to make the Hulk come out, to make him furious. He didn’t know why he enjoyed being around her, but he did. 

“Hey Natasha,” he said softly. 

“Bruce,” she said. 

“So uhm.. What have you been uh.. Doing?” asked Bruce. 

“I do my missions Bruce. That’s all I do. I could tell you about it but then I’d have to kill you.” Bruce chuckled for a moment until he realized she was dead serious. 

“Well.. ah ha… Of course.” There was an awkward pause.

“What have you been doing, Bruce?” Natasha asked, seemingly burdened just by the conversation. Bruce curled in on himself. Why did he even try to talk to her? She clearly hated talking to him. She just made him feel so pathetic and irritating. But feeling awful kept him from feeling angry he supposed. 

“Just.. I mean not much I just kind of wondered..I get it if you don’t know or can’t tell me.. But do you have any idea were Cap and the Winter Soldier are? Without having to uh.. Ha kill me?”

“Reprogramming,” Natasha said coldly. 

“Reprogramming?”

“We were all programmed once. To be the way we are. Sometimes they break down and need to be reprogrammed. That’s where they are,” said Natasha. 

“Oh… Alright,” Bruce said. 

“Bruce what time is it?” she interrupted.

“Uhm.. 12:47?” said Bruce.

“Dammit- I’ve got a mission, I have to go,” she said. “See you, Bruce.” And she smiled at him as she left. For a second Bruce remembered why he liked her. He  still wished he didn’t though. Maybe someday if her programming broke they could be friends at least. Until she was reprogrammed. He curled in on himself, nearly laying down on the couch. Then he saw the Winter Soldier. He got up and walked to him. 

“Hey uh.. How.. How did uh reprogramming go?” he asked softly. The Winter Soldier grabbed him by the throat and pinned him to the wall.

“Was it you!?” he demanded.

“Was what me?” Bruce asked.

“No then…” the Winter Soldier said. “Come with me,” he pulled Bruce aside, as far from everyone as he could possibly get. “Look, Bruce, something happened- something bad.”

“What is it?” Bruce whispered. 

“Look, I actually genuinely remembered my name and Steve’s name-”

“Who is Steve?”

“Captain America- erhg ah Captain Hydra. His name is Steve and he remembered my name- but uh, I can’t remember it now. But I knew him and he knew me and I was close to him Bruce- really close like…” The Winter Soldier looked at his hands and he just shook. “Like Stephen and Tony close.”

“Stephen and Tony close?” Bruce whispered, hardly a breath. 

“And then somebody here noticed it and reported it to Hydra and they.. I don’t know why but they left me with all this but they reprogrammed Steve- he can’t remember anything- he doesn’t even know me as the Winter Soldier anymore…  He just called me subordinate.” 

“That’s so... so … Do you know who told them?” Bruce asked. 

“I’m trying to find out,” the Winter Soldier said. 

“So.. Who do you suspect?”

“I dunno… I.. I don’t like them much, but Rhodey and Tony don’t have Hydra ties.. Strange works only for Dormamammu or whatever that is… It wasn’t you… So… Sam, Clint, or Natasha.”

“It had to be someone here?” asked Bruce.

“Yeah, no one else would have seen it.”

“So one of your own friends..”

“We’re not really frien-”

“Betrayed you for Hydra because.. And you were happy… and they just-”

“Bruce-”

“It just really pisses me off!” Bruce snapped. 

 


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was supposed to be one chapter

Hulk raged through the building, crashing through walls and wrecking absolutely everything. He threw a table, broke all the chairs, and continuously screamed.

“Who hurt little Winter man!?” Hulk demanded, punching through a wall. “You hurt Bruce little friend!”

“This is bad,” said Tony.

“No shit idiot,” Sam hissed, getting punched by Stephen. 

“I say we figure out who pissed off Hulk and give ‘em up,” said Rhodey. 

“Or we try an actually like, calm him down?” said Clint. 

“Give ‘em up,” Stephen agreed. 

“What even happened? Did anybody see it?” asked Clint. 

“I was telling Bruce about what happened to Steve,” said the Winter Soldier.

“Steve?”

“Captain Hydra,” he sighed. “Anyways- We figured that Rhodey, Stephen, and Tony are all out because they don’t work for Hydra. Obviously I didn’t, Bruce didn’t. So it’s either Clint, Natasha, or Sam.” 

“I am not a snitch,” Sam said. 

“Well you’re obviously not just going to give yourself up instantly,” said Stephen. Clint paused. He had already thrown Steve and Bucky under the bus, why not make it worse? 

“It’s probably Natasha,” said Clint. “She left right before this whole thing happened.” 

“Damn, you’re probably right,” said Sam. 

“I dunno seems like you’re showing a habit of not caring about your ‘friends’,” said Rhodey. “Doin’ it to Nat, why wouldn’t you do it to Cap and the Winter Soldier?”  Clint punched Rhodey.

“You’re the one who said we should give up whoever did it! I’m just listening to you,” hissed Clint. 

“This is stupid how are we ever going to find out which idiot did this!?”snapped Rhodey. 

“Wait a minute.. Wait a minute..” said Tony. He tapped at the arc reactor and tried to focus. That couldn’t be good. Clint tried to think it through. Tony wasn’t stupid, he was incredibly smart. He was focusing on something which meant he knew something. If Tony figured it out Clint was  _ dead.  _ Which meant he had to stop Tony from figuring it out. He could interrupt him and hope he lost his train of thought, or he could risk everything and yank the arc reactor out of his head- definitely saving himself from Tony’s realization but potentially killing Tony and definitely pissing off Stephen. If he could get them to pay attention to something else he could do it. As they turned their attention to Tony Clint threw a tissue box and attracted the Hulk to them. He ran over and started to attack them, slamming his fists through the couch they had hidden behind. Clint lunged forwards and hit Tony in the back of the head as possible and made sure the reactor fell out as they ran. Just to make sure he didn’t actually  _ kill  _ Tony he kicked the arc reactor under the fridge so it wouldn’t be destroyed by Hulk. 

“We gotta find out quick!” yelled Sam. Rhodey ran to Tony’s side and helped him stand. 

“His reactor! The reactor fell out!” Rhodey snapped. Stephen crossed his hands and then started muttering something. He was using a spell-  _ shit!  _ He could figure out that Clint had- no, he was looking for the reactor. 

“I saw it!” Clint yelled, trying to get on their good sides. He dove to the fridge and reached under, grabbing it but getting kicked across the room. He dropped the reactor as he hit the wall. Stephen shot several red beams from his hands and trapped Hulk to the walls. 

“What’s that?”

“Crimson bands of  C yttorak, they’ll hold him for a while-” Rhodey grabbed the reactor and put it back in Tony’s head. “Tony are you alright? What happened!?” 

“Clint hit me!” hissed Tony. Rhodey and Stephen turned on Clint.

“My leg’s broke,” Clint said. “Definitely. We need to calm down-”

“You did it!” snapped the Winter Soldier. “That’s why when Tony was about to figure it out you did this!” 

“I did what I had to! You should have been more careful if you didn’t want-” The Winter Soldier grabbed him by the throat. They heard the door open and some of them looked. Stan Lee the arms dealer looked from the Winter Soldier and Clint to the Hulk.

“I’ll come back later,” he said, walking out. The Winter Soldier continued to choke Clint as the Hulk began to escape. 

“Bruce, you can chill out man, we found out who did it-” Sam began.

“Hulk no like wizard man’s red bondage-”

“Hulk, please never say that again,” Stephen said. 

“Wait!” Clint said. “If you kill me you’ll never know-”

“Kill you? I wasn’t exactly going to kill you I was just going to kick your ass,” the Winter Soldier said.

“Oh.. Well if you do I’ll probably go to the hospital and stuff and be there for a while and I can’t tell you what your actual name is. And Steve’s not gonna remember.” 

“You think that bit of knowledge will stop me from kicking the shi-”

“I’m back,” Natasha said, walking in. “Seriously guys? I leave for one hour and you’ve destroyed the entire building and are trying to kill each other. Wow,” she sighed. She walked over to Hulk. “What’s wrong Bruce?” she asked.

“Arrow bird man turned in little Winter man and Steve to Hydra and now Steve doesn’t remember little Winter man and Hulk  _ sad _ ,” Hulk whined. 

“Why are you sad? This is just a part of Hydra life,” said Natasha. 

“Because they loved each other and they could be happy but little bird man is a bitch!”

“Fight me jolly green giant.”

“Hulk will!” snapped Hulk.

“You want them to be happy?” Natasha asked. “Why is that?”

“If they’re happy Hulk can be happy.”

“Why would that allow you to be happy?” Natasha asked. Hulk was already starting to turn back to Bruce, so whatever she was doing was working. 

“They are Hydra and Natasha is Hydra and Hulk love Natasha,” Hulk said. 

“You love me?” Natasha asked. 

“Hulk love you. Bruce want to be friend but you hurt Bruce.” 

“I hurt..? Ah,” she said softly. “I suppose I do.” There was a long pause and the Winter Soldier punched Clint in the nose once. “Bucky knock it off,” hissed Natasha.

“Who?”

“You. Bucky,” she said. “That’s your name. I felt bad for you so i went to see what it was for myself. And then on the way may or may not have dismantled Hydra.”

“May or may not?”

“I killed it a little, but Hydra usually gets better.” 

“What the hell do you mean you dismantled our job!?” snapped Clint. 

“Fury had to know I’d do it eventually,” she said casually. “Also we had better leave- and quickly. They’re coming I’m sure but not not so sure of when. And we won’t want to be here when they get here.” 

 


	6. Chapter 6

Everything was fuzzy and he was incredibly dizzy. He always was when something went wrong with the reactor. It hurt terribly. He and Stephen and Rhodey were going somewhere, but he couldn’t see where. Sometimes his reactor nearly blinded him, which made his life much harder. The buzzing made him near deaf sometimes, and when it flicked off it left him confused and dizzy and in pain. He wished it was somewhere else- anywhere else. Unfortunately he couldn’t move it or do anything with it. He knew a lot of his inventions failed despite his memory gaps. So he could figure out that trying to remake it and make it better would likely kill him. He sighed and laid back on Stephen’s lap. 

“What’s wrong Tony? Does your head hurt?” asked Stephen. Stephen put a hand over the reactor and kissed Tony’s nose. 

“Yeah,” he said. “Where.. Where are we going Stephen?” 

“Rhodey knows a place we can go. We’re in his van going to this place,” Stephen explained. Tony wasn’t surprised that Stephen knew he was confused about where he was as well. Stephen seemed able to read his mind. He probably really could. He had magic, why wouldn’t he be able to? He stretched his arms and wrapped them around Stephen’s neck so he could pull him down into a kiss. Stephen petted his hair and gently traced the scars around his head. 

“So where are we going Rhodey?” asked Tony. 

“I mean… it’s a bad idea but I know Hydra’s not gonna mess around with Wanda and Vision.”

“Oh no,” Tony sighed. “You know Vision hates me right?” Tony reminded him.

“That’s why I said it’s a bad idea,” Rhodey sighed. “But I don’t have any others.” Tony sighed and he moved up, into Stephen’s lap. Stephen held him and cuddled him close, still gently resting his hand on top of Tony’s reactor. Tony sighed and curled closer to Stephen. He didn’t want to deal with Vision, but he didn’t have a choice. 

  
  


Bruce knew this was a really, really bad idea, and that deep down despite taking Hydra down and calming the Hulk and downright inviting him to go along, Natasha was still a Hydra agent and definitely only saw him as a weapon to be used for the Hulk. But he went with her anyways. Where else would he go? Stephen, Rhodey, and Tony had already left, Thor refused to get involved, and the last group was Bucky and Sam, Clint going off on his own. Besides, Natasha definitely could handle Hydra agents. It was a great idea. No, it wasn’t. It was a fine idea. Ok. It was the best he could do in the circumstances. That was what he was telling himself anyways. 

“So uh.. What’s the plan Natasha?” asked Bruce. 

“We’re going to kill the rest of the Hydra agents. The hardest is going to be Captain Hydra himself.”

“We’re gonna kill him? I really don’t wanna-”

“ _ I’m  _ gonna kill him. You just have to help me with the others,” Natasha insisted. 

“Nat, I really don’t want to hurt anybody,” Bruce said. “I don’t want to kill anyways- I just don’t-” 

“We have to.” 

“I’m not just the Hulk you know,” he hissed. 

“Look- Bruce, I need the Hulk, you’re attached to the Hulk,” she said. “So if you’re not going to be the Hulk at least once then you need to go.” 

“Then I’ll go.” 

  
  


Bucky and Sam had agreed, they were going to find and save Steve. They had to- it was necessary. Sam had known, he had known everything, but out of fear of his own memories being taken he had to hide it all from Bucky and Steve. Bucky was, for a moment angry, but after Clint’s betrayal fully processed he understood. Everyone in the building who worked for Hydra was a possible leak- a potential betrayer. Even Bucky and Steve had been. It was just rational. 

“So where is he gonna be next, do you think?” asked Sam.

“Where ever the Hydra people go first,” Bucky said. “Is where he’ll be. I have a plan though. They’ll be going after Natasha for sure, so we can track them, and then we can find Steve- take Steve, and remind him that he is Steve.” 

“Good plan,” said Sam. They ran through the forest as they stalked Natasha and Bruce. They had headed into the forest to avoid people, as Natasha likely knew that they were looking for her- Hydra that was anyways. She likely didn’t know about them yet. Natasha and Bruce fought for a moment before Bruce stormed off. “You think Hydra will go after Nat or Bruce?” Sam asked.

“I don’t.. Know?”

“I’ll go after Bruce you go after Nat,” said Sam. 

“Got it,” said Bucky.  They split up and waited, stalking for a long time. Bucky was getting bored with watching Natasha. Then he heard four wheelers. He crawled through the grass and waited. She noticed it too and ran to hide. He waited until he saw it, recognizing Steve instantly. Perfect! His heart started to thump in his chest as he crept forwards. The other Hydra agents started to swarm Nat. It was now or never. He lunged forwards and grabbed Steve, knocking him off the four wheeler. Steve started trying to punch him and Bucky pinned him to the ground with his metal arm. Steve thrashed on the ground, trying everything he could, kicking Bucky’s legs. Bucky took a deep breath and yanked himself and Steve to their feet, shoving him up and over his shoulder and started to run. “Sam! Sam let’s go!” snapped Bucky. Sam turned, saw Bucky carrying Steve over his shoulder and started to laugh. Sam ran alongside him. 

“Hey guys! Can I come with you!?” yelled Bruce.

“Yeah!” yelled Sam. They didn’t slow down, however, so Bruce had to catch up himself. They ran as Steve thrashed and the other Hydra agents were too busy dealing with Natasha to catch them. 

 

“Why did you come to me?” Vision demanded. 

“We don’t have other options,” Rhodey said. “Or we’d never come to you.” 

“You shouldn’t have. You can’t stay here,” insisted Vision.

“Wait- what does Wanda think?” asked Stephen.

“What?”

“What does Wanda think about us staying here? It’s her house too.”

“Fine, I’ll ask her,” sighed Vision. Rhodey didn’t know what the wizard was playing at but hoped it was something. Wanda walked forwards, and glared at them all.

“I don’t know why you’ve come-”

“We were betrayed by Clint, you were right. He probably did get your brother killed,” Stephen said. He then covered Tony’s ears.

“Hey-!”

“We’re willing to help you kill him. Rhodey and I are, anyways,” said Stephen. Rhodey forced himself to keep a straight face. He hadn’t quite thought about hunting Clint down and killing him yet, but if he had to he wouldn’t exactly be sorry about it. 

“What was that about?” Tony asked. 

“You can stay,” said Wanda.

“Wanda- darling-” Vision began.

“You know how much this means to me,” she hissed. 

“I… Of course… Alright. You can stay,” sighed Vision. 

 


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yo i'm not dead

“I will never betray Hydra!” snapped Captain Hydra.

“Oh for- We  _ know  _ Steve. You’ve only said  _ that  _ for the last three hours!” Bruce groaned, leaning back and hitting his head against the seat of the car. 

“I will-”

“If he says it one more time I am punching him in the face,” Sam said.

“At least you don’t have to sit with him!” snapped Bucky. Bucky and Steve were sat in the back of the car, Steve tied up with the seatbelts and Bucky trying to control him. Sam was driving, the seat as far back as physically possible. Bruce sat next to Sam. Steve writhed and kicked as Bucky tried to hold onto him. “Steve! Come on!” 

“What made you snap out of it?” Bruce asked. 

“It was never that bad,” Bucky said. “I don’t think I just…” Bucky laid back and held Steve’s hand softly, rubbing his thumb over Steve’s hand. “Please, Steve.. You’ve fought everything in your life- just fight this one more time..” Bucky’s head fell to Steve’s shoulder.

“Torture,” muttered Steve.

“Torture?” asked Bucky.

“This is… somehow- I don’t even know you I don’t think but I just… This hurts now more than all they ever tortured.. No, they trained me- I will never-”

“Betray Hydra,” Bucky said softly. “I know.” 

“Please, don’t be sad,” Steve said softly.

“Don’t be sad?” asked Bucky. “Why do you care? You only care about Hydra.” There was a pause.

“Why?” asked Steve.

“Why?”

“Why do I care about you?” asked Steve. “I know I do.. It just hurts so much to see you upset- physically.” 

“We know each other Steve- we always have known each other, since we were young. We’ve always been with each other Steve.. And I’ll always be here for you.” 

“I will never… I won’t..” Steve paused. “They broke us,” he said softly. Bruce had leaned over and was watching now- Bucky didn’t care. 

“They broke us,” Bucky agreed.

“I don’t want to be broken,” Steve said.

“We can help each other,” said Bucky. “We can be whole again.” 

“That’s so sweet I’m gonna throw up,” said Sam. 

“Thanks Sam.”

  
  


There was a cold sense through his whole body. Something was off. He opened his eyes and Stephen looked around from one sense of darkness to the next. Dormammu.

“We’re getting close, Strange,” said Dormammu.

“Close?” asked Stephen.

“Soon I will be able to escape through you.” 

“Dormammu, I do not question you, I just wish to.. I do not question your plan I just want to-”

“You may ask questions without making me believe you question my plan.”

“Thank you- I just wish to know-”

“If you will survive?” asked Dormammu.

“Yes,” Stephen said. 

“You will if you are strong enough. As will your lover. You will both survive and do well in the new world I rule… You are my most loyal follower… I will give you a book, and you may write a dozen names of people who will also join you in your rank above the mortals who will suffer.”

“That’s.. Incredible, thank you Dormammu- I can’t express how-” 

“You’re welcome. Just keep training.” Stephen woke up at that point, sitting there for a while. He looked next to the couch they’d been allowed to sleep on. He saw a book that hadn’t been there before. He opened it.  _ Tony Stark  _ was already written in it. Then it was Dormammu’s book. Stephen looked around the room for a moment, and then began to write another.  _ James Rhodes.  _  He put the book in his tunic and walked away into a portal, moving slowly through Kamar-Taj. He shouldn’t be there but he felt the need. He felt the need often. Sometimes he wished he had done something else, trusted the Ancient One more than Dormammu- listened to what he was told. Then he stopped being an idiot. That wouldn’t have worked- it would have all gone horribly. That was foolish. It never would have worked. He sighed and walked further.

“Why are you here?” 

“Wong. Nice to see you again,” said Stephen softly. 

“I didn’t want to see you again. Get out of here, Strange.” He turned quietly and looked at Wong, who was brandishing an axe at him. He paused. He hadn’t seen Wong in a long time.

“You’re looking better,” he said. 

“No thanks to you.” Stephen’s betrayal had been rough on Kamar-Taj apparently. Especially on the people after the Ancient One’s death. And of course, nearly killing most of them made them bitter. That was fair. Wong never liked him, not even a little. Somehow he seemed to have known that Stephen would figure out the easier way to get his hands back instead of the Ancient One’s long method. Hell, the Ancient One had even drawn power from the dark dimension- it wasn’t like he was the first. He tried to think he had done the right thing, but he still had doubts when he would see someone like Wong, Mordo, or Kaecilius. Especially Wong. He didn’t know why, but it felt like an overlap, some odd disconnect between a possibility and reality. He had no idea why those things kept coming into his thoughts and dreams. Other realities, he would bet they were either from Dormammu or a residue from the Eye of Agamotto. Regardless there was some bit of another timeline in his head that called him there, that once or twice showed him a Tony Stark who was said to be heartless instead of brainless. Stephen didn’t like either. He hated what people called Tony- his Tony and the other one. The way they were treated. He just wished he could be shown a reality where Tony just got to be happy. “What do you want?” Wong insisted.

“I don’t… know.” 

“Then get out,” Wong said. “I will kill you.” There was a moment when Stephen considered making a joke- but that would be wrong. The distinction between the real world and the false reality become harder to tell apart in Karmar-Taj, he didn’t know why. Maybe he would some day. It didn’t matter. 

“I just-” he began to explain before Wong lost patience and swung the axe at him, forcing him to leave or get hit. He opened a portal and darted through it. The axe still cut his shoulder as he moved but he closed the portal in time to cut the axe into pieces. The splintered pieces fell in the room. Stephen paused. 

_ You wish to know what the memories are?  _ Dormammu asked in his head. Stephen paused. He hadn’t realized Dormammu had become present in even his thoughts. He tried to respond in his head.

_ Yes? Please?  _

__ _ It is from the Eye of Agamotto. You’ve seen impossible timelines- a world separate from ours. Do not entangle yourself in them. They will only make you want what you cannot have and potentially ruin our plans.   _

_ Of course.  _ Stephen responded. But he couldn’t quite help himself. He opened the book and wrote one more name before returning to the couch.  _ Wong.  _


	8. Chapter 8

Natasha was a little pissed that all the men had run off to be sure, but there was also the benefit of working alone instead of being forced to protect them. The Hydra goons were easy, the hard part would be dealing with Fury. She could do it. She stole a four wheeler and began to drive towards the head quarters. 

 

Sam and Bruce got out of the car to stretch their legs. Bucky was stuck with Steve now, that was his problem. Sam yawned and rubbed his eyes.

“Where are we going, Sam?” asked Bruce.

“I have no idea.”

“What.. What can we do?” 

“I have no idea. I’m just trying to not die and keep you all from dyin’.” 

“What do we even do?”

“I have no idea. I don’t know, Bruce,” Sam snapped. “I don’t know!” There was a pause. “I’m sorry I didn’ mean to yell at you I just kind of.. I’m afraid, Bruce. I don’t know what to do with my life and I don’t know where to go or what to do.”  Sam sighed and laid back against the car. 

“Nat will take down Hydra,” Bruce said. “So that won’t be a problem.” 

“I hope you’re right,” said Sam. “We need as few problems as we can get.” 

  
  


Natasha looked up to a window above and looked into the Hydra building’s window through the reflection. She counted the goons and then added two just to be sure. She planned out her attack and then lunged up onto the side of the building, climbing up and moving over to the window she had looked in. She braced herself.  She had to relax. To help herself she remembered a lullaby her mother had sung to her.  _ Tili-Tili-Bom. Close your eyes rather.  _ She closed her eyes.  _ Someone goes outside the window. And knock at the door. Tili-Tili-Bom.  _ She kicked the window in.  _ Screams night bird.  _ A guard yelled and one sturdy kick to the head set him to the wall and likely to the grave.  _ He had already made his way into the house.  _

“She’s here!” She ran up and grabbed the man by the neck and broke it.  _ For those who cannot sleep.  _ Another guard tried to run.  _ He goes.  _ She ran and as he drew a gun she locked her hands around his and twisted his wrist up, causing him to shoot another as she broke his wrists and yanked the gun from him.  _ He already close.  _ She shot another. There were five men in the room but she had added two, leaving her seven targets. She had killed five but she saw a sixth running. She ran towards him.  _ Tili-Tili-Bom. You hear someone nearby? Lurking around the corner.  _ Another guard ran out. She shot him in the head, and he was so close to her she could see where the bullet destroyed his eye.  _ And pierces the eye. Tili-Tili-Bom. All hide silent night.  _ She ran up the wall and ripped a cover off an air vent, crawling in.  _ For you it is stolen and is about to catch.  _

“She was right here!” She darted through the vents as fast as she could.  _ He… He is already close. Tili-Tili-Bom. You hear someone nearby?  _

“Get here now! I wanted her dead yesterday!” Fury yelled. She moved gently through the vents.  _ Lurking around the corner.  _ She could see him through the vents. She knew it was him.  _ And pierces the eye.  _ She aimed her gun quietly and focused in on Nick Fury’s one good eye. She gritted her teeth and pulled the trigger. She was Natasha Romanoff, and she was finally free from Hydra. 

  
  


“He is a god damn kid!” snapped Vulture. 

“What the hell do you mean?” Red Skull asked. 

“Hydra’s new toy is a god damn kid!” Vulture slammed his hand on the table. “I won’t hurt him he’s a kid but he’s trying to kill me! I don’t know what they did  to him but I’d bet my bottom dollar he worked with the Black Widow- They call him the Spider. I’m not having it! They’re doing this to kids! Kids my daughter’s age!” They heard a knock on the door. 

“Oh my god, Kae you ain’t gotta knock every damn time just come in!” Erik yelled. 

“That’s not Kaecilius,” Ultron said flatly.

“Then which mother fu-” 

“Hi. I’m Clint,” yelled a man from downstairs. They looked at him in absolute shock.

“He’s one of them!” Hela snarled, pulling a knife. 

“Bruh, what are you doin’?” asked Erik. 

“Look all kinds of things are about to go down and I think you need help,” he said.

“What?” 

“Look you’ve got two main problems- Firstly, Hydra is about to be taken down from the inside and their operatives are escaping. Second, Dormammu is getting way more powerful and he is coming to kill us.” There was a pause as they looked between each other and Clint. 

“We have three problems, actually,” Loki said, walking in suddenly. 

“And the third?”

“Thor.” 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wanted to give the side characters some love! Also that is a real Russian Lullaby so I did some research just for Natasha b/c she is a queen and deserves it


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Baby spiders are called spiderlings and that is adorable

“Alright- so,” Erik began. “We got the Asgardians on Thor, we got me, Yellow Jacket, Vulture, Skull, and Ultron on the Hydra situation. So how the hell do we deal with the whole Dormammu thing?” 

“If he gets into the mortal world his power will be uncontainable, we must stop Strange at all costs,” said Kaecilius. 

“Okay how do we stop him?” asked Erik.

“I don’t know if I can do it alone, I don’t think so- especially if Clint isn’t lying and Dormammu has been syphoning his powers into Strange. He will become more physically strong, durable, and his magic will be near unstoppable.”

“Alright.. Well what if we throw something else unstoppable at him?”

“What?”

“It’s time to start makin’ phone calls guys. Nobody on this planet can beat Dormammu, but like Thanos? Ego? Odin?  That’s a maybe. Until then we just gotta beat the shit out of them. How do we find them though? I can get a dude there.”

“A dude?”

“A big dude,” Erik said. “Don’t worry about it we just need to know how to find Strange.” 

“He’ll be with Stark, and I can find him,” said Ultron. “I will search him down through the reactor and you can send your ‘dude’.”

“So who are you calling?”

“You said unstoppable like three times, so of course the first dude I thought of is the Unstoppable Juggernaut.” 

  
  


Tony felt the ground vibrate under his feet, felt the reactor shaking back and forth in his skull. He sat up and rubbed his head. 

“Stephen something’s wrong,” he said softly. Stephen was sitting up straight, his eyes rolled back in his head. That was also wrong. Tony touched his arm softly and he snapped out of it. 

“Oh- By the Vishanti!” Stephen exclaimed, clutching his chest. 

“Something’s coming,” Tony said softly. Stephen looked up and clearly felt the vibrations as well. 

“Is this some magic bs?” Rhodey asked sleepily.

“Possibly but I’m not doing it.” 

“It’s not me either,” Wanda said. 

“An enemy is approaching,” Vision declared. There was a loud noise and the wall was smashed through both brutally and casually through by a massive man with a huge helmet. 

“Who the hell are you!?”

“I’m the Juggernaut.. Guys. No that doesn’t work..”

“The Juggernaut?”  Tony’s head hurt and his vision became blurry. 

“Something’s wrong,” he said softly, grabbing Stephen’s arm.  He could barely see Stephen turn to him as the man who called himself the Juggernaut grabbed Stephen by the waist and threw him into a wall. Rhodey put on his suit while Vision and Wanda shoved back the Juggernaut, who then ran forwards. They both moved out of the way and let him run into another wall, which he ended up running through as well. 

“We need to get out of here,” Vision said. Vision and Wanda ran to the door and flew away.

“Guys  what the hell!?” called Rhodey.

“We will not die for you.” 

“Fair enough but  _ shit.  _ Aight, it’s me and you, Merlin,” Rhodey said. Tony sat up and pushed at his reactor hoping that it would go back into his head so he could see properly. 

“I can’t see right-”

“Rhodey take care of Tony,” Stephen said. 

“What about you?”

“I have a back up plan,” he said. “Just get Tony out of here.”

“I won’t leave you behind, Stephen!” 

“Don’t worry Tony,” Stephen said. “I’ll be fine. I promise.” Tony finally got the reactor back in properly and saw the blood pouring from Stephen’s nose like a faucet. He mumbled something under his breath and his eyes rolled back into his head, suddenly turning an inky black. 

“That is..” the Juggernaut began.

“Who dares to challenge Dormammu?” Tony didn’t even know who that was, but he was in Stephen’s body and he was scaring him. Stephen didn’t even move like himself, it was somebody else wearing his skin like a suit. Tony never expected he would be afraid of Stephen. The Juggernaut lunged for him and Stephen lifted his hand, a dark energy flowing from his fingers the way spells normally did, but something was wrong. Tony knew Stephen, and that wasn’t him. Rhodey and Tony got out of the building, confident that the other could handle it. They stood by the massive hole in the wall and waited. 

“Do you know.. What that is?” asked Rhodey.

“I don’t..” 

  
  


It was her responsibility she supposed. She should take care of him. However she wasn’t good with children, she couldn’t do that. He wasn’t exactly a child though, anymore. He had never been treated like one. He was made for spying, made to be like her but better. He had been infused with some kind of spider gene which made him able to climb walls and other such things that were vaguely useful for spying. There was one problem however, he needed to be trained, and training meant a tiny amount of loyalty. A tiny amount of loyalty he had never had for Hydra. So instead he clung to Natasha like a spiderling. He sort of was a spiderling. She just hoped he never got around to that eating his mother part. Peter sat there awkwardly. Hydra never bothered to name him, but in the time they worked together she and Wanda agreed to name him Peter after Wanda’s brother, as Peter was the English equivalent of Pietro, and the English name would let him blend in better. 

“Miss Romanoff,” he said softly. “What do we do now?”

“I don’t know.”

“What do we know?”

“Essentially? Nothing,” she said. She paused there, looking at the quite boy. He wore his mask. “No matter what, don’t take it off,” she reminded him, starting to feel the summer heat. Clint loved kids, but he was far from stable enough. Bruce was a no, the former Hydra agents were  a no. Wanda and Vision could potentially be parents, but even with their unusual features she wasn’t sure they could handle what exactly Peter was. She needed someone who could handle what was under the mask. 

“You’ll figure it out,” he said. “I trust you.” He should have learned from Hydra not to trust people. Natasha felt a very unusual pang of guilt as she adjusted to the idea that Peter really trusted her, right then as she tried to figure out who to dump him on. 

 


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hey! There was a temporary pause b/c I had to work on something else, and now this will be updated super quickly and will conclude relatively soon. However, please support Trash Infinity War, a parody yours truly was very involved in both in acting and writing, and you'll notice the Ironstrange and Stucky undertones, lol. 
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgSPl0c4KaM&t=48s
> 
> please check it out I spent months on this lol

Loki stalked through the streets, running through the hordes of fleeing Midgardians. He saw his brother first, of course, he was very bad at blending in. Hela was already trying to fight him, throwing him through buildings and causing more panic and more destruction. That wasn’t working. It never worked. Thor was persistent, he never gave in. Not once. He wasn’t ever going to. He slammed into the pavement again, closer to Loki this time. He ran out and grabbed his brother’s arm.

“Get off me!” Thor snapped.

“Thor, wait! I just want to talk to you-”

“I don’t have time for chatter, our sister-”

“Look you two can just stop fighting, you know? You can stop for a moment and talk to me brother-”

“Nothing you have to say will stop me! They are responsible for the deaths of our parents and they will pay for it! They will pay with blood!” he yelled, the sky growing dark as the clouds rolled in. 

“You can’t hate all the humans for what some did!”

“Yes I can and I will!”

“What about frost giants?”

“Loki, don’t-”

“Frost giants were the bane of our existence, they attacked Asgard and killed hundreds, thousands, eons of death and destruction and you don’t hate me, I’m your brother. I… I hope you don’t hate me anyways.” Thor actually paused for a moment.

“I don’t hate you, brother. I love you,” he said. “You’re my brother. I just can’t forgive these humans for-”

“You don’t have to forgive them,” Loki said. “Just don’t murder them- take this out some other way.” Thor paused for a moment, and Hela had walked up to them, weapons mostly lowered. “We can’t keep fighting each other, Thor. Now that our parents are gone, we’ve only got each other.” Thor’s glare broke down and he hugged his siblings close, nearly crying.

“I love you two.” 

“We love you too; stop hugging us,” Hela said, trying to writhe away. Loki just accepted his fate, happy his siblings weren’t destroying the neighborhood anymore. Then Loki heard his communicator start to buzz. It took him a minute to open it and figure out how to listen to it, as no one ever really taught him. 

“What’s happening?”

“Juggernaut couldn’t do it- this Dormammu guy is too strong- we gotta do somethin’ and I need you and I know you are havin’ issues with your brother but-” Erik began. 

“We’ll be there,” Loki told him. 

“What’s happening?” Hela asked.

“We have to fight Dormammu, he was too powerful for the ‘dude’ Erik sent in and is already taking control of Strange.”

“You’re going to have to fight Strange?” asked Thor. 

“It seems so,” Hela said. 

“I’ll come with you.”

“To protect your siblings?”

“That, and I really hate every single one of them. Not Strange in particular but they were all an absolute nightmare to live with. The most tolerable was Bruce.” 

“Well, we need all the help we can get,” Loki said. 

“No matter the opponent the side I pick is yours,” Thor said, holding his siblings’ shoulders.

“Then we can’t lose.” 

  
  


“Peter you have to stay here.” He looked up to her, eyes wide.

“But why?”

“It’s not safe with me.”

“Why would it be safe with them? I don’t know these people, Miss Romanoff please-”

“Peter I can’t take care of you! I can’t help you! They might be able to.”

“So you’re leaving me with them on the off chance they do better?”

“I’ll only hurt you Peter, I can’t deal with people-”

“Please Natasha-”

“I can’t! I’m hardly even a real person Peter- I’ve been with Hydra my whole life-”

“So have I! We can help each other!”

“No!” Natasha snapped. “No we can’t! I don’t care what you do- stay here or go somewhere else you just can’t come with me.” Peter flinched worse than when he had actually been hit during training. He stood there silently, accepting it she assumed. A normal kid wouldn’t do that. A normal kid might even cry. But Peter couldn’t be a normal kid anymore. And she was partially to blame for that. She couldn’t deal with him, a young summation of all her mistakes, growing up to be like her. So she put him with the people she didn’t mind him growing up to be like. She walked away, refusing to look at the hurt on his face for even a second longer. She left. She had to leave. 

 

“Stephen, what was that?” Tony asked softly, laying gently against his chest. 

“What was what?”

“That creature. That thing you became.”

“I didn’t physically-”

“No but I could tell.”  There was a tense pause.

“Dormammu.”

“When he does whatever he’s going to do is he going to take over your body forever?” asked Tony.

“I don’t think so.”

“You don’t  _ think  _ so? This is something you should know.”

“He’ll only use me as long as he needs a vessel.” 

“How long will that be?”

“I don’t know. Shouldn’t be long with how powerful he is.” Tony grabbed one of Stephen’s hands, cracked and bleeding from the sheer power of Dormammu.  “Does it hurt?”

“Not nearly as much as they used to.” Stephen gently put his head on Tony’s. Then they heard a soft knock at the door. “Someone’s at the door,” he hissed. After the incident with the Juggernaut, he, Rhodey, and Tony had hidden out in a building that belonged to Hydra before it’s front, SHIELD, collapsed. 

“I didn’t hear a knock.”

“I heard it.”

“You could be having some weird interference from Dormammu,” said Rhodey. 

“No I heard it.”

“I’ll check,” Rhodey sighed, getting up and walking to the door and opening it. There was a small boy at the door, standing awkwardly. “What the hell?” 

“I’m Peter,” he said softly. “And Miss Romanoff thought I would be best off with you.”

“With us? Why?”

“She said Hydra had polluted me and you all had the least Hydra connections,” Peter mumbled. “And she left me. Here.”

“Natasha knows where we are, we need to move,” Rhodey said. 

“We need rest,” Stephen said. “If anything comes I can deal with it.”

“What about the kid?” demanded Tony. “We need to focus on him, your name’s Peter?”

“Yeah.”

“I’m Tony Stark,” he said. “This is James Rhodey but we call him Rhodey. That’s Stephen Strange.” 

“Hello,” Peter said softly, head tilted down. He was wearing a mask. 

“Hello,” said Rhodey. 

“Why are you.. Wearing a mask?” asked Stephen.

“I have to. Always. Because of…”

“You don’t have to wear it unless it makes you comfortable,” Tony said.

“It’s not comfortable and I don’t like it but Miss Romanoff says I have to wear it.”

“Natasha says a lot of things,” Rhodey said. “If you hate it don’t wear it.”

“I want to but… Can you promise you won’t be afraid?”

“Yeah,” Rhodey said.

“Absolutely,” said Stephen. 

“Of course,” Tony promised. Peter gently pulled the mask off of his face revealing several massive eyes, Tony started to count and noticed 8. The rest of the way his face was normal. Rhodey was the only one who said anything. 

“Huh,” was all he said. Peter looked at the massive machine that helped Rhodey walk, then at Tony’s reactor in his head, and then finally at Stephen, from the hands to the eyes. 

“Oh,” he said softly. “I could see in the mask just not.. A lot.” He paused. “Hydra did this. They made me like this… I don’t want to be like this but…” 

“It’s alright,” Tony said.

“We’re the last people on Earth who are going to care about something like that,” assured Stephen. Peter finally smiled. 

 


	11. Chapter 11

Stephen couldn’t sleep, and he had no idea why. He figured it had something to do with Dormammu. Everything did anymore. He checked on the others. Peter had made a web hammock and was attached to the ceiling, and Rhodey and Tony had taken over a couch. Stephen would eventually join Tony there, hold him. Sleep, hopefully. He then heard something else. He moved quietly into the room he heard it from. 

“Stephen,” Wong said. 

“Why are you here? How did you find-”

“You did this to me, I’m just returning the favor.” Stephen paused.

“What is it you want?” he asked. Wong walked to him briskly and quickly slammed his hand against Stephen’s chest forcing out his astral form before following Stephen onto the astral plane himself. “What the hell!”

“This is the only place Dormammu can’t hear us talk, and I need to talk to you.”

“About wh-”

“Dormammu is going to kill you, Stephen. You know it, deep inside, that the moment he takes over your body you will die. Look at what he did to your hands!” scolded Wong.

“I’m not a child. Why do you even care?” 

“I don’t… You get them too, don’t you?” asked Wong.

“Get.. what?”

“Visions, memories, I don’t know- they’re just another timeline, things I remember about how irritating you are that I don’t even know about you I just… I.. I just know about you, remember you, from things that didn’t happen..”

“I get those too.”

“I felt the need to keep you from getting yourself killed, because of it.” 

“Look I don’t know what-”

“Stephen, you know it will kill you if you accept it, he’ll kill everybody.” 

“I don’t think-”

“You’re right, you don’t think,” Wong hissed. “One spell cracked your hands open like an egg!”  He paused. 

“I mean, you’re not wrong-”

“Yes and you should know that you’re going to die! The full force of Dormammu will kill you, and that’s his plan. He doesn’t care if he destroys your body, this is all a side effect of you interacting with him so much!” Wong snapped, pointing to his hands. “Look at that!” 

“I.. I just don’t want to.. I have to- I owe him-”

“For what? A shit pair of demon hands?”

“They don’t always hurt anymore-”

“Well he gave you new hands, then he broke them again, you don’t owe him anymore.” And despite having a few disagreements, he couldn’t argue with that. 

“So now.. What can I do to.. What should I do?”

“You’ve got to-” Stephen started to blur out, being pulled back to the physical world. “What’s happening?” 

“Mr. Strange?” asked Peter, gently touching his shoulder. “Please get up, Mr. Strange, please be alright! Please!” He gritted his teeth and turned back to Wong. 

“The kid is trying to wake me up,” said Stephen. 

“Alright, you need to come with me so that the rest of us can try to exorcise Dormammu from your body.” 

“Is that gonna hurt?”

“After all you’ve put me through I hope it does.” 

“Fair enough.” Peter shook him one last time so hard he coughed and awoke in his body again. 

“Mr. Strange!” he exclaimed, hugging Stephen tightly. 

“Peter I was alright-”

“You weren’t breathing-”

“It’s a magic thing.” 

“You’re magic?” he asked, wide eyed. Stephen supposed he hadn’t exactly mentioned that. 

“Uh yes, actually, I’m surprised I never- I have an issue I ha-”

“We need to exorcise a demon from his body before it destroys everything.” 

“Who are.. You?” 

“I’m Wong.” 

“He’s a… friend?”  Wong nodded. 

“I’m a friend.” 

 

Sam, Bruce, Steve, and Bucky settled in on the farm. It felt wrong, in a lot of ways, but Sam was right. They would never be found on the Barton Family farm. Clint wouldn’t want to go there, he’d  never mention it. Also, the sheer wrongness of staying in the house where Clint’s family was killed would assure even Hydra wouldn’t look there first. Steve was outside, cutting wood. Sam went around the house cleaning. Bucky was taking care of the animals they had rounded up from other farms in the area. Bruce cooked. 

“This place is dusty as hell,” said Sam. 

“Yeah well this food’s non perishable but I think it’s still old enough to kill us.”

“Suck it, I got the easy job,” said Bucky, holding a goat under each arm. 

“Go steal some more  animals,” Sam said. “We’ll be here a while.” 

  
  


Natasha still felt bad about leaving Peter, but she didn’t have other options. After wandering for a while, trying to figure out what to do, she saw Vision and Wanda flying overhead  and yelled to them. They landed gradually and walked to her.

“Nat! What’s happened?” asked Wanda.

“I’ve taken down Hydra and now they’re trying to kill me, I’ve gotten Peter out of the way but I don’t know what else to do.”

“Where did you put him?” asked Wanda.

“With Stark and Strange.”

“That’s not safe,” Vision interrupted. “They  were recently attacked by a massive man attempting to murder Strange.”

“Well since we didn’t see Natasha drop off Peter and they were still alive when she did, they won,” said Wanda. 

“We need a plan, we need to figure out what we’re doing-” began Natasha.

“Hey!” called a man. Natasha recognized him immediately. Clint. 

“What the hell do you want, Clint?” hissed Natasha. 

“We need your help. We need all the help we can get.”

“We?” asked Vision.

“With what?” demanded Natasha. 

“Dormammu is coming, and we have to fight him.” 

 


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapters will come a little slower b/c I'm back in school, however there should only be two to three chapters left!

Erik was trying to gain control of the group, and trying to bring in his nemesis, T’Challa. He had to deal with enough shit from his own group, now they also had Thor, Hawkeye, Black Widow, Scarlet Witch, and Vision in addition to his idiots. Also Kaecilius got some memo from Kamar-Taj about a super important magic thing from that Wong guy and now he was gone. 

“Aight,” Erik said, looking around at the others. “We need to gather everybody up, get everybody we can in on this before we attack. He already threw the Juggernaut through a damn wall- Sorry about that Cain I didn’ think he was that strong yet.”

“I’m fine,” muttered Juggernaut angrily. 

“Do we need the others of that group?” asked Loki. “Because I can use a tracking spell and we can all go and get the rest of them.”

“That would be sweet-” Loki, Thor, and Hela vanished then. “Dammit why does nobody listen to a whole ass sentence I say before vanishing? Kae literally just did the same shit to me.”

“The rest of us are listening,” assured Ultron. “Just wrap this up.” 

 

Loki, Hela, and Thor walked to the building. Only Loki realized the significance of where precisely they had gone. The home their former teammate’s whole family had been murdered in. Even Loki thought that was cold. He laughed a little, to himself, upon seeing all the goats they had rounded up. They walked inside, breaking in abruptly. 

“Hello Midgardians. You’re coming with us to fight Dormammu,” announced Hela. 

“Oh shit-” exclaimed Sam.

“Get back!” snapped Steve. Loki sighed.

“Ah! Bruce! The least irritating of our group!” Thor exclaimed, putting an arm around Bruce’s shoulders. “We need you.” 

“You need me?”

“Yes, and your ability to become large and green.”

“Well then you don’t really need  _ me _ then do you?” snapped Bruce, brushing him off.

“I would like you all to acknowledge that I am the actual Goddess of Death and that was not a suggestion or an invitation. You are coming,” Hela said.

“Alright,” Sam said. “I mean the whole.. Uh.. yeah that’s good enough for me,” he said.

“Wait- Wait guys,” Bruce said. “Let’s think about this like the others would. What’s in it for us?”

“Not dying?”

“Nah. That’s stupid. What’s really in it for us?” Bruce demanded. “Escape from Hydra? Protection? Legal forgiveness?”

“Bruce, she is deadass the Goddess of Death-” 

“You want to bargain with me?” asked Hela. “Well.. I almost respect that. Fine. You can talk to Erik about it, Midgardian matters aren’t my affair.”

“Alright, but can you promise us after this we can at least escape?” asked Bucky.

“Bucky! Bruce! What the hell guys!? They’re Gods!” Steve snapped.

“Well it’s not stupid if it works,” said Bucky. 

“We can guarantee you will escape the police and Hydra for at least a day after you help us. From then on it’s your problem,” said Loki.

“I like what you’re selling,” said Bruce. “I’ll go.”

“Me too,” said Bucky.

“Fine,” sighed Sam.

“I don’t wanna but because you are I’m legally obligated,” said Steve. 

  
  


Stephen felt crowded, as Kaecillius, Wong, Tony, Peter, and Rhodey gathered close around him. Wong was trying to get Peter, Rhodey, and most of all Tony, to leave and let them do what they were supposed to. Peter and Rhodey were at least a foot back, but Tony clung to Stephen near desperately. 

“Tony, you have to move out of the way,” said Rhodey softly.

“I can’t just-”

“I promise you he will be alright,” said Kaecilius. “You just have to let us do this.” Tony gripped Stephen’s hand. 

“I don’t want to to let you go,” Tony whispered. Stephen tried to calm down but he couldn’t.

“Can I.. Would it be possible for me to go to the astral plane while-”

“It would be better if you did, everything you think could be monitored by Dormammu in this plane,” Kaecilius said. Wong immediately shoved his soul out of his body , and Stephen floated there and glared at him for a moment before floating off with Tony. They left the room, only able to hope for the best. 

“Are you like.. A ghost?” asked Tony.

“No,” said Stephen. “This is my astral form, I’m still alive.” Tony tried to hold his hands, but his hands went through Stephen’s. Stephen started to worry if that was going to become a fact of life. Dormammu had really saved his hands after his coworkers destroyed them but.. His coworkers had said that his hands had almost needed to be amputated. After all that use of them, after what Dormammu had done, which he was sure Dormammu would reverse, Stephen wasn’t sure he’d even  _ have  _ hands by the end of it. He just had to remind himself, it was better than death. 

 

They waited, for hours. He wasn’t sure how long they had waited, but each second more made Tony think something was wrong. He didn’t know how long these magic things took, but he was deeply worried. Was Stephen alright? Had they been lied to just to get rid of Dormammu? Tony had difficulties perceiving the shift of time anyways, and now there was this. He looked to Rhodey and Peter, who both look worried as well. Stephen was stone faced and serious. That made Tony believe something was wrong even more. Then there was a loud crash and Tony darted up to the door, starting to open it as Rhodey grabbed his arms, pulling him back, to protect him. Stephen went through the door, looking around. He then flew out.

“Get back! Get out!”

“What happened?” Rhodey asked. 

“Are you alright?” Tony demanded. There was a flash of light which was followed by the deepest darkness Tony had every witnessed. Stephen tried to grab his hand and run with him, but passed through him.

“Tony we have to go!” snapped Stephen.

“What? Why?” 

“It’s too late! Dormammu is here!” 

 


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Only two chapters left of this long boy, but the next one is going to be lonnnggg- may take a little while to update, though shouldn't be more than a few days

Tony absolutely refused to run away and leave Stephen, no matter what it was that threatened him. Rhodey and Peter and Stephen himself tried desperately to stop him. Kaecilius and Wong ran out, and Wong even tried to stop him as he went back in. Tony slammed the doors open and ran in, diving across the table Stephen’s body was laid across and knocked him off, hitting the wall. He looked up at the massive creature. Its head looked like a massive burning piece of charcoal. Its eyes and mouth breathed fire like a dragon, and it was huge. Tony assumed it was Dormammu. Dormammu turned his massive head towards Tony, looking him in the eyes. 

“Tony Stark,” said Dormammu, reaching a hand towards him. Stephen lunged back into his body, yanking himself up violently, and throwing himself between Tony and Dormammu. He attacked once and Tony saw the remainder of one of his hands break into pieces, blood gushing down his wrists. Tony wrapped an arm around his waist and pulled him back. Tony turned quickly and hit his head against the table. The sight in his eye on the side of his reactor blurred, and he tried to blink it away, but he knew the reactor was messed up and he couldn’t do anything and he couldn’t protect Stephen and Stephen was raising another hand to do it again- he’d ruin both his hands and it would make him so miserable and-  _ no.  _ Tony hit his head against the table with purpose, shoving the reactor back in. He had to try it. He fiddled with the watch, he had worked on in the lab. If it worked the way it was supposed to bits of his suit would fly to him and then he’d be able to use it to fight Dormammu! But then again would repulsor  blasts even do anything to Dormammu. He pressed the button and waited, pulling Stephen out of the way again. “Pathetic,” Dormammu scoffed.

“Stephen you can’t!” hissed Tony.

“I have to-”

“No my suit will-” A single tiny piece of the suit flew to Tony and hit Dormammu’s leg, making him laugh.

“That’s your suit?” he mocked. 

“That’s one of them,” Rhodey snapped, kicking the door in. The War Machine armor was probably not fully functional, but it was working. It was slow, but Rhodey forced it to move faster than it normally did, and Tony heard the wine of the circuits as it was pushed. It sounded like a lawn mower. Rhodey shot Dormammu once with a small stun blast- well it was supposed to be a small stun blast- it had a tendency to explode. For once Tony was glad it did. Rhodey picked up Tony under one arm and Stephen under the other as he ran out the door, Kaecilius and Wong creating shields and trying to block Dormammu’s attack. He wasn’t even using magic yet- just swatting at them like mosquitos. 

“This is bad, this is so so bad,” Wong muttered.  Peter ran to them and Rhodey pushed him away from the fight.

“ _ No  _ kid,” snapped Rhodey. “You’re not getting near this.” 

“I can help-” Peter began. “I can make webs and-”

“No,” insisted Rhodey. 

“There is exactly one thing you can do to help,” said Wong. “Make your webs and wrap Stephen’s hand and then get as far away from here as you possibly can.” 

“But I-”

“No!” Wong and Rhodey said in unison. 

“Mr. Stark can I-”

“No.”

“Dr. Stran-”

“No.”

“Mr. Magic guy I don’t know-”

“No,” Kaecilius added. “Just do what Wong said!” Peter sighed and stuck his fingers together, starting to produce a webbing, and spread them apart. It looked like a spider web, though the webs were about as thick as noodles. Peter wrapped them around Stephen’s hand, and they became a soft pink from the blood. 

“You two, get the kid and get out,” Rhodey said to Tony and Stephen.

“I can help,” Stephen insisted.

“You nearly destroyed your whole hand by just using it ten seconds ago- No,” Rhodey said. 

“You can help by getting out of here! That’s how you help,” Wong said. 

“Give me a sling ring,” Stephen said.

“For what?”

“I can get weapons from Kamar-Taj-”

“That’s too far you’ll only hurt yourself more.”

“The New York Sanctum then,” said Stephen.

“Fine,” Kaecilius sighed, “Just get out!” Kaecilius threw something to Stephen, and he dropped it, shaking hands unable to even lift the small bronze ring. Tony picked it up for him and ushered Stephen and Peter out. 

“Here,” Stephen said, “Put it on my hand.”

“No,” Tony said. He stuck it on his own hand. “I’m not letting you hurt yourself again, just tell me what to do.” 

“You’ve never been to the New York Sanctum- you can’t envision it, give it to me-”

“I spent a lot of time in New York,” said Peter. “Where is it?” 

“177 A Bleecker Street, in Greenwich-”

“I went to a pizza place near there! It was Luigi’s-”

“That’s next door, put it on him,” Stephen said.

“Will it hurt him?” asked Tony.

“Definitely not,” Stephen said. Tony put the ring on Peter. Stephen moved to Peter’s side.

“Alright, Peter, think about that pizza shop, focus on it. Now move your hand in a circle,” he gently guided Peter’s hand. 

“It’s not working,” Peter said.

“Yet- it’s not working yet, just wait and focus-” Dormammu burst through the roof of the old shield building, growing and spitting flames from his hands. “Oh shit, shit-” Peter was panicking and started spinning his hand faster. 

“I can’t-”

“You can,” Tony assured him, “And if you can’t we’ll find another way, it’s alright Peter-” Sparks began to crackle in a circle a few inches from Peter’s fingers.

“You’re doing it!” Stephen exclaimed. “Just a little more.” A full circle of sparks formed, and Peter looked at it in awe. Then they saw the pizza shop through it. Stephen grabbed them both and leaped in. 

 


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A long boy, a gift for you

They ran into the Sanctum, grabbing every weapon and everything that looked like a weapon. They ran around the whole building, grabbing everything but trying to not break anything. 

“This is a weapon,” said Peter, “I think.” He grabbed a decorated stick. Stephen headed through the halls and realized he was being followed. He turned, expecting Mordo, but instead saw a living piece of cloth flying away from him, till it was hovering about ten feet away from him. It seemed to be watching him.

“I see you,” he told it. “I don’t know what you’re doing.” It was the Cloak of Levitation, of course. It had decided to protect him when he had been with the others, but left when he joined Dormammu. “What? What is it you want?” It came over to him cautiously, floating near him. He sighed and turned away from it, instantly bumping into Mordo. He swore. 

“What are you doing here, Strange?” demanded Mordo. 

“It’s not just me, please don’t attack anybody but me if you’re going to they didn’t do this-”

“How many?”

“Two, one is a child,” said Stephen. “And, in addition, I’m not exactly associating with Dormammu anymore. We’re here for weapons to fight him actually- to help Wong and Kaecilius.” Stephen showed Mordo his ruined hands. Mordo almost seemed to pity him. The cloak actually did, connecting to his shoulders again. 

“If the cloak goes with you I suppose I will too,” he said.

“You pity me too?” Stephen asked.

“It doesn’t pity you. It trusts you. And I trust it.” 

  
  


Erik sent everybody in, leaving them completely unable to deal with Hydra. It was a bad move, and Vulture knew that, but he didn’t have other options. Dormammu was here, and he was much too powerful to be dealt with alone. Vulture flew over head, watching everybody he decided he never wanted to fight get tossed around like ragdolls by a giant man with a fire head. It was an interesting Thursday to say the least. He flew over as the Juggernaut and Thor tried to hit him back with pure strength, and Hela riding her wolf and leading her army of the dead tried to attack Dormammu from behind. Red Skull could barely do anything, trying to lead a small group of the dead. Yellow Jacket was trying everything, finally growing up to Dormammu’s size and attempting brute force only to get his arm snapped like a toothpick. Ultron had his own mechanical army, which fought with him, still barely moving him. Kaecilius and Wong attempted to shield everyone from his attacks with magic. With them worked Hawkeye, who could do basically nothing, Black Widow, who was also helping very little, Captain Hydra (apparently his name was Steve?) who just kept taking hits directly like an idiot, the Winter Soldier, telling Captain Hydra he was being an idiot, Falcon who was flying around with him, and War Machine, who was probably damaging him. Vulture wasn’t actually certain that Dormammu could be hurt. He wasn’t sure they weren’t just wasting time and spiraling towards their certain deaths. It was like that sometimes. 

He watched a portal open, thinking it might be Wong or Kaecilius then saw another of the wizards- he never knew that one very well, he hardly knew Wong- followed by Strange, Stark, and lastly that kid he had fought before he knew he was a kid. The kid had like eight eyes but seeing as there was a giant fire man attacking the city that really didn’t concern him at all. He and Sam tried to dive bomb Dormammu, again and again, hoping to not be hit. They distracted him to the best of their abilities. His plan was going pretty well. 

Then the spider kid nearly got stepped on. It happened twice and then he bomb dived down, aggressively, and snatched the spider kid up, carrying him into the air. The kid writhed around a bit.

“I’m just stopping you from getting stomped, kid!” he said. The kid slowed down and stopped wiggling.

“Thank you mister uh..?”

“I’m the Vulture. You can call me uher… Mr. Toomes.”

“Okay, thank you Mr. Toomes.” 

“Kid, I don’t know where to put you,” said Vulture. “So I think I’m gonna move you from the battle, and I need you to stay there, alright?” 

“I have to figh-”

“No, kid, I have a daughter, alright? And she’s about your age and if anything happened to her I could go completely insane. I can’t just sit here and let something happen to you, you could be her classmate. I can’t let something happen to you.” He was about to drop the kid when he suddenly felt something collide with his feet before his feet hit the back of his head. Then his head hit the pavement. 

  
  


Peter landed on his arms, feeling the skin peel off like an orange. He hit the ground and then looked up to see the back of Dormammu’s hand crush Mr. Toomes into the pavement, his feet hitting his head as his face slammed into the pavement, blood splattering everywhere. Peter screamed and crumpled around himself. 

“Mr. Toomes! Mr. Toomes!” cried Peter, running to him. He tried to help him up, but was quickly drug away from the body by Natasha.

“No, no, Peter, get away from that!” she yelled, pulling him from it. Tony was there next, running to him at full speed.

“He’s gotta be okay! He’s gotta be! He’s got a daughter and she’s my age and he has to be there for her and-”

“Peter you’ve killed people you can handle this!” 

“Shut up, Natasha- he’s still a kid,” snapped Tony. She quickly elbowed Tony in the side of the head, knocking the reactor loose again. 

“Miss Romanoff!! Please don’t hurt Mr. Stark-”

“Peter he doesn’t matter! Nobody matters! We’ve been made from birth to kill and to follow orders, people don’t matter to us,” she hissed. 

“They matter to me!”

“Hey guys, I hate to uh, ruin whatever this is but we’re really trying to deal with this giant fire man,” interrupted the leader of the Avengers, Erik Killmonger if Peter was right. 

“Shut up, I know Dormammu is here! This is just-” began Natasha. Erik helped Tony up and pushed the reactor back in. 

“I hate to be that dude, but you can do this any time. This is just the actual worst time.”

“What about.. What about Mr. Toomes?” Peter asked, almost crying.

“Oh, it’s all good, spiderboy, it just is that way sometimes- Kaecilius can fix it. Right, Kae?”

“I have no idea, please don’t drag me into this,” Kaecilius yelled.

“I don’t know what you idiots are doing but you’re distracting everybody!” Ultron yelled. Tony turned to Peter as Natasha and Killmonger ran back to the battle.

“It’s alright Peter,” said Tony, “Just come with me, please.” Peter followed Tony away from where Mr. Toomes was, holding his shoulders to make sure he couldn’t turn back. He closed his eyes for just a minute, wishing he had time to process everything with Dormammu there. 

 

“What can we do? What can we even do?” snapped  Yellow Jacket. “He snapped my arm I think he just killed Toomes- I don’t know what to do!” 

“We fight!” snarled Thor.

“Thor wait- please,” Loki said. “We need some plan.”

“If we can distract him for just a moment, a second, we have a single chance,” said Wong. “But it’s a really bad one.”

“I like those odds,” said Thor. “What’s the plan?”

“One of the artifacts retrieved by-”

“Are you going to help!?” snarled Ultron and his metal army.

“We’re making a plan!” Thor said happily.

“I hate you all and I hope Dormammu eats you!” yelled Ultron. 

“One of the artifacts Strange and Stark and the boy with lots of eyes retrieved was the Wand of Watoomb, which has the ability to harness energy from a magic attack and repel it back to the caster,” began Mordo. 

“So it does what?”

“It takes magic energy and throws it back,” said Strange, sighing heavily.

“Ah. Good.” 

“We’re going to get Dormammu to hit it once, then distract him, then hit him with his own magic so that we can actually do something to him. And if that doesn’t work we just hit him while he’s down until he leaves,” added Wong. 

“Alright, but who can actually take one of his hits to charge that thing?” asked Yellow Jacket. 

“I can,” Thor said.

“Brother-”

“I can definitely do this,” Thor said again, taking the wand. 

“Be careful brother or I will beat you in Hel,” Hela said. 

“Thank you, sister,” said Thor. He ran towards Dormammu, throwing his sword into his chest, hitting him. Dormammu turned and struck Thor once, sending him flying, then crumbling into the ground, and destroying the area. 

“Alright, now what do we do to distract him?” Tony walked up with Peter.

“I have an idea.”

“What is it?”

“One of my suits-”

“Stark your suits don’t work everybody knows that,” Yellow Jacket sighed.

“No, listen to me-”

“It won’t work, we need a new plan-”

“It’s already-”

“Stark-”

“Hey! Shut up!” Rhodey snapped, landing. “You let him talk.” They shut up.

“I called it earlier and a little piece came and then I went somewhere else and confused the navigator on it and now it’s headed back and-”

“It still won’t work, even if it gets here.”

“I know but it’ll explode.” Thor began to jog back. 

“You know what we really need right now?” Thor asked. “Hulk,” he said. “Where's Bruce?”

“Sidelines,” Loki said. “He refused to fight. Even now.” 

“Well that sucks, I’m going to make him, here’s your wand and good luck,” Thor said, summoning his sword back. 

“Did you have it enchanted to work like Mjolnir?” asked Hela, holding the hammer fondly. 

“Uhm. Yes basically,” Thor said, again flying off. 

“Now how do we distract-”

“If you’d just listen to me!” Tony yelled. The suit flew in, without any specific target. “Oh shit it’s coming to me, it’s headed to the watch!” Hela grabbed it off his wrist roughly, and threw it as hard as she could, hitting Dormammu in the face with it as Thor ran from Hulk towards him. 

“Do you think this will have any effect?” asked Dormammu, looking at it and grinning. Then the suit flew towards his face, hitting him in the jaw and exploding.

“You did it!” Killmonger yelled. “Good job!” 

“That was planned?” asked Ultron.

“Of course,” said Loki. “Do you take us for idiots?” He turned to the others. “We take this to our graves, as  far as any of them are allowed to know that was on purpose.”

“Agreed,” Hela said. “Who knows how to use this?” asked Hela, holding out the Wand of Watoomb. Wong and Strange both backed out immediately. It was between Mordo and Kaecilius and Mordo told him to take it. He took it and turned. 

“I can’t do this alone,” he said softly. “I need help,” said Kaecilius. 

“What do you mean-”

“I don’t have the sheer magic force, that thing’s not gonna stay in his eye long, come on!” Mordo, Wong, and eventually Stephen joined him. Then Hela put her force in and the wand shot the attack back, slamming through Dormammu, almost completely through him. Dormammu clutched the wound and gritted his teeth. 

“Everyone! Attack!” Hela yelled, charging forwards and attacking with her army of the undead, along with Thor, Hulk, and the others came charging after. They fought back with everything they had, everybody rushing and aiming for Dormammu’s wound. He fell backwards, trying to catch himself on the building and crushing it. A few more times they struck him, until he blew them all back and curled in on himself. He got up gradually and formed a portal, moving back.

“I’ll be back mortals,” he hissed, crawling back. Dormammu was gone. 

 


	15. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> aaaah!!! thank you all so much for sticking through this with me, sorry I've been so slow uploading, but here is the final chapter. I hope you enjoy!

Though it seemed strange to Bruce, Hela and Loki hadn’t lied. He and the others had been spared from the reaching arms of Hydra, and though he wasn’t sure if Hydra was truly gone, he figured he wouldn’t see them again. Bruce had retired, as far as he could from all of it. Bruce had retired to Hawaii, and he sat, looking out at the sea. It was relaxing. Everything was relaxing. Except maybe the volcano, but that would be alright. Everything would be alright. He relaxed back into the chair, looking at the sky and the sea, and for once, Bruce wasn’t worried. 

 

Natasha, Vision, and Wanda had headed out together. She and Wanda really understood each other’s Hydra training, and how it had hurt. Vision and Wanda loved each other. And she and Vision tolerated each other. The most awkward thing was when Vision’s brother Ultron forcefully visited and declared himself Vision’s brother. Loki, Thor, and Hela tried to forcefully give them family advice. It was uncomfortable and she didn’t like having them around that much, but the company was kind of nice. She just didn’t feel quite so alone anymore, even if she wanted to be. 

 

The tower was fuller, but also more empty. Loki wasn’t sure if he liked that or not. He and his sister and brother were together again, but they were always traveling around and never actually there. Most of the Avengers were that way anymore. There was a larger roster of allies, but now none of them actually stayed around the tower. It didn’t matter, the age of sitting on the couch was over. It was time for them to go and do. It would be fun. And if it wasn’t he would make it fun.

 

Red Skull felt the thin skin of his red lips crack as he smiled. They were close. Killmonger stayed nearby, followed by Yellowjacket and the one who called himself Hawkeye. They had been working together for months, struggling with the remains of Hydra, but it wouldn’t be that way for much longer. 

“We’ve nearly done it.”

“Won’t take long,” added Killmonger. They would finally be rid of Hydra. Cut off one head, another grows back, but after all those years they had found out how to aim for the body. 

Sam, Steve, and Bucky gathered around the fireplace, drinking and talking. The first thing they did was get their own cabin. It was wonderful. Steve laid across Bucky’s chest, which Sam thought was hilarious because of how much bigger he was than Bucky. He had been smaller once, Steve had and sometimes with Bucky he forgot he wasn’t. It amused Sam endlessly. He was squishing Bucky, but Bucky didn’t care. It was like a giant dog thinking it was a lap dog. 

Their little farm was a touch ridiculous, especially since all the animals were stolen, but it was nice. No one actually dared fight three former Hydra agents over a few stolen sheep. Steve stretched up across Bucky and kissed his chin. 

“Why have you gotta do that all the time?” Sam sighed. “I’m just here trying to drink and you’re there making out and-”

“We’re not making out yet, but if it bothers you-” began Bucky.

“I will poor this on you both.”

“I’ll drink it,” said Bucky. Sam glared at him. 

“I hate you,” Sam told him.

“I hate you too.” Sam paused for a while and started laughing.

“Damnit. You’re great, I don’t hate you completely,” Sam said.

“I don’t hate you that much either,” Bucky added.

“You two are so damn weird,” said Steve. “But I love you both.” 

 

Stephen had to go back and forth to the hospital a lot, and Peter went with him most of the time. He was trying to go through physical therapy for his hand this go round instead of sacrificing his soul to a demon. Peter liked to go to see Mr. Toomes. He was recovering, slowly. Stephen didn’t like to visit Toomes with Peter, but sometimes Peter drug him along. It was maddening really, how patch worky and unprofessional the stich work was. It was surgery, not a god damn quilt. It shouldn’t look that way- he could have done so much  _ better  _ just like his damn hands. But that was passed. He couldn’t do that anymore. He couldn’t do better anymore. He’d probably do worse. He definitely would. His right hand was completely ruined. Beyond ruined. His left was still awful. He had been completely unable to write, to hold nearly anything. It was like being an amputee, but with the useless, dead limbs still attached.

Then Peter had suggested something to him that made him laugh at first. Then he tried it. And though it was hard, it worked. Peter had seen some video of a man writing with his feet and suggested it to Stephen. He had gotten to the point he could print his name. It looked stupid but it worked. And if anyone made fun of it he could kick them. He was getting alright at holding things with his feet, like cups. He then also still spilt things on himself. Tony liked to hold things that were really hot for him so he didn’t hurt himself. It was irritating and sweet. 

Stephen’s fingers could finally move again, after that day. Well, on his right hand. The fingers on his left hand moved way too much. He sighed. Peter met him outside of the physical therapist's office, already having visited Toomes.

“How’s he doing?” Stephen asked. 

“Pretty good,” said Peter. “I met his daughter. She’s really nice. She didn’t even mention..” Peter trailed off and gestured to his face, blinking his eyes. Stephen wrapped an arm around his shoulder. 

“That’s good.” They headed back to the house. 

Tony had been hired by the Avengers to build things for them, though they knew some of the things he made didn’t work. He had good ideas, and it allowed Ultron and Vision to make gentle attempts to improve the arc reactor, to help his brain stabilize. Peter ran in excitedly and went to Tony, telling him all about everything he had done that day. Tony listened contentedly. They were good for each other. Peter ran off, going to do something else. He walked to Tony’s side. 

“Are your hands doing better?” asked Tony. Stephen showed him how he could move the fingers of his right hand. Tony was genuinely excited about it, and that made Stephen’s heart melt. It had been little to him, barely progress. But to Tony he was doing so much better. He leaned his head on Tony’s side as he explained what he had been doing, building a small teleporting device. Stephen had lost most of his magic abilities and his hands, but he had gained something so much more valuable. He had gone from the faint impression of it to having it. He had a universe were Tony was happy. 

 


End file.
